The UConn men's basketball team cannot play in the Big East Tournament. It is banned from the NCAA Tournament. It lost Alex Oriakhi and Roscoe Smith to transfers, Jeremy Lamb and Andre Drummond to the NBA.

Jim Calhoun isn't on the sidelines for the first time in 26 years, handing over direction of the program to a former player who has all of two years coaching experience. The only senior on the roster is a guy who played previously at Holy Cross.

Then why the heck is this team so darn interesting?

"They're fascinating," said former Providence coach and current SNY analyst Tim Welsh. "Jim's not there anymore, which is one huge story in itself. Then you have Kevin Ollie, a guy who has very little coaching experience, taking over one of the great programs in the country. You have a roster that's undergone a lot of turnover and a team that can't play in the postseason.

"I think this year will be a great study in what made UConn great in the first place. They were always working hard, playing the role of underdog and getting the absolute most out of their talent under Jim. I don't think they'll be a great team, but there's enough there to make UConn very interesting."

Fans are going to have to exercise extreme patience with the Huskies, something that hasn't been a strong suit for the UConn fan base. Calhoun shot the program to national relevancy so fast that any lulls aren't easily tolerated.

This is expected to be a down year for the Huskies, but that doesn't make them any less interesting. There are plenty of things to watch, but here are the five biggest ones.

1. Ollie's coaching style: Already Ollie has proved to be almost the polar opposite of Calhoun on the sidelines. Calhoun could be heard throughout the gym on most nights, and his physical antics sometimes were more entertaining than the games. Ollie breaks out a number of facial expressions, but he's relatively quiet and any harsh words are reserved for private.

We haven't seen how Ollie will handle tight, late-game situations, but the best bet is he'll be fine. He hasn't been timid in taking over for a legend, which is far more difficult than coaching a basketball game.

2. The impact of R.J. Evans: Playing as a graduate student after graduating from Holy Cross, Evans has the most experience of any of the Huskies, including the three guys — Shabazz Napier, Tyler Olander and Niels Giffey — who played for a national title team in 2010-11. Those three were youngsters whose heads were spinning for much of that season. Evans has already been through three full seasons and an injury-shortened junior year in college basketball. He is also 22 years old, built like a linebacker and aware of his limitations.

Ollie has said he will count on Evans to be the guy who holds the team together through trying times. Evans won't score a lot, but he will play defense and he has enough experience to not get rattled.

3. Shabazz Napier's leadership: This really is huge. The junior has proved that he can be almost as polarizing as he is galvanizing. He has rallied his teammates at times and splintered them at others. Napier needs to find a balance between criticism and praise, and needs to support that balance with his play.

"I want Shabazz to be the leader of this team," Ollie said. "I know he can be because he's shown that before. But he's also shown that he can take it a little too far. He's matured and learned from his mistakes. We've talked about it and he knows

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how important he is to this team."

4. Combination of DeAndre Daniels and Niels Giffey: These two will likely get the bulk of the minutes at power forward, where Tyler Olander used to play. Olander will end up at center most of the time, meaning the slight Daniels and potentially bruising Gifffey will have to play new roles. Both of them arrived at UConn with reputations as being outstanding perimeter shooters. They will get to do some of that because the Huskies have little size, but they'll also have to get themselves inside and do some banging of bigger bodies.

The Huskies know Napier, Ryan Boatright and freshman swingman Omar Calhoun will find ways to score. What they don't know is what they'll get out of the power forward spot. It could be the position that determines UConn's success or lack of it.

5. Attendance: This seems like a weird one, but attendance has been steadily dropping for the three major sports at UConn. The simple nature of this season — young team, no postseason hopes, likely struggles — means that people are naturally tempted to not bother showing up. That, in turn, means that Ollie will be coaching a team that might not have much support from the home crowd and he'll have to find additional ways to provide motivation.

It certainly isn't incumbent upon the fans to show up, but this season will say a lot about how the fans feel about a three-time national title program that has run into a rough patch.

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fan wrote on Nov 9, 2012 8:31 AM:

" there is 0 reasons to watch Uconn Mens basketball neverless 5! They have nothing to play for... all their key and role players have left for the NBA or transfer... and the man who has built up this program is gone... so as a Uconn fan i am sad to say, Go Memphis! "

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